Tisdale in the pink after MK sink Exiles

PAUL Tisdale believes that MK Dons fully deserved their win over Newport as they continue their push for automatic promotion.

Second-half strikes from Ousseynou Cisse and Chuks Aneke were enough for MK to take the three points and Tisdale was quick to praise his players.

He said: “It was a fully deceived victory and the scoreline says something about the way we have played – I am really pleased.

“At 1-0 it is never over and we were really trying to go and get that second goal, it was not just a case of settling for the one goal – we went and tried our very best to put more pressure on them.

“It was a really good game against a team who were never going to give up, they really put pressure on our danger area but well done to the defence – it was a really tough, robust performance and I am delighted.”

MK went close when Dean Lewington – making his 700th career appearance – found Kieran Agard on the edge of the Newport box whose first-time shot fizzed wide.

The Dons could have taken the lead after 25 minutes when ref Sebastian Stockbridge pointed to the penalty spot after MK’s Conor McGrandles was felled inside the box under Dan Butler’s clumsy challenge – only for Newport goalkeeper Joe Day to save Kieran Agard’s tame effort.

The first goal came through the unlikely Cisse, whose second goal of the campaign arrived when McGrandles’ cross found the Malian international unmarked inside the County box, and he headed home.

Substitute Aneke added his 16th goal of the season and MK’s second late on as Tisdale’s men rounded off a comfortable victory.

Newport manager Michael Flynn believes the defeat all but ends his side’s play-off hopes. He said: “We were a bit flat. We have had a lot of the game and in the end our lack of quality has caught up with us.

“We huffed and puffed, but we just were not our usual dynamic selves and we chose a lot of the wrong options throughout the game.

“The goals we conceded were poor from our point of view. This result has probably put paid to our chances of finishing in the top seven, but you can never say never.”